We asked readers to submit their picks for the Capital Region’s top entrepreneurs —and you answered. Our editorial team vetted almost 100 nominations, looking for innovative business ideas, interesting backstories, unique products and services and that ineffable “it” factor. And here they are…

In business, it often takes great partners to make great things happen. American River Bank has been that partner for countless companies throughout the greater Sacramento area for more than three decades. Founded in Fair Oaks in 1983, ARB is a community bank meeting the needs of local businesses.

Ten years ago Monday, a pair of Bear Stearns hedge funds that had gorged on subprime mortgage securities filed for bankruptcy, becoming the canaries in the coal mine for the global financial system that collapsed 15 months later.

A key Republican Senator is casting doubt on hopes for quick action to dismantle the Dodd-Frank Act or overhaul the U.S. mortgage-finance system, citing the need for bipartisan support in a Congress that seems to be far from providing it.

It seems 39 percent of millennials would rather disclose a preexisting sexually transmitted disease to a potential partner than reveal their debt, according to a survey of 2,000 millennials SoFi conducted, using online poller Survey Monkey. In addition, the survey found that serious debt was the second-biggest romantic deal-breaker, after workaholism.

California’s contributions to the California State Teachers’ Retirement System are projected to almost triple in less than a decade and may increase even more due to low investment returns and the cost of benefits enhanced in boom times.